UK Sport is today delighted to announce the appointment of Graham Taylor as its new Head of Coaching.
World Class coaching support is vital to our success in London 2012 and beyond. In his new role, Graham will lead the delivery of UK Sport’s Elite Coach Apprenticeship Programme, which builds on existing coach support and seeks to accelerate the development of elite coaching within the high performance system. Working in partnership with national governing bodies of sports he will design, implement and monitor the delivery of the programme.
Graham joins UK Sport from A1 GP franchise Team Monaco, where he was Team Principal, and brings over 20 years experience from the world of motorsport to the role. An engineer by trade, Graham was formerly the Sporting Director of the Super Aguri Formula 1 team and Chief Race Engineer at Arrows F1, before moving to A1 Team Monaco where he was in charge of all team operations and logistics.
Graham, who begins in the post today, said: ”With just over two years to go until the start of the London Olympics I could not have joined UK Sport at a more exciting time. I am sure that there are many different ideas that I can bring from the world of high performance motorsport which would add value to the Elite Coaching Apprenticeship Programme, and I look forward to working in close partnership with NGB Performance Directors and Head Coaches to develop the programme further.”
Reporting directly to UK Sport Director of Performance Peter Keen, Graham will work alongside the performance management team of Dr Scott Drawer (Head of Research and Innovation), Chelsea Warr (Head of Athlete Development) and Matt Favier (Head of Performance Solutions). Commenting on the appointment, Keen said: “Graham has joined UK Sport at a critical time and I am sure his knowledge and expertise will be a vital resource for elite sport in the UK. It would be difficult to overstate the importance of the role that coaching plays in determining success in elite sport and I am certain that in Graham, we have someone who is capable of driving elite coaching in this country forward to 2012 and beyond.”
Graham will lead the UK Sport coaching team which seeks to ensure the delivery of quality coaching to athletes on UK Sport's World Class Performance Pathway, a system devised to identify, develop and refine talented British athletes.